Honesty and Rubber Tree No. 5

I was happy to see that our honesty plants are blooming. I like honesty and find it so cheerful -- I have two that took root of their own accord in a pot of lilies, and I think they're all struggling a bit because there are three plants in a single pot. (Hey, I didn't tell them to grow there!) The honesty will eventually die back naturally, though, and I don't think the lilies are in danger.

(This is a different pot of lilies from the one colonized by toadflax. I am not very diligent about weeding.)

Here's my latest plant rescue project. This rubber tree has been sitting on a windowsill outside the Lower School library for several months, looking sadder and sadder. I'd water it every now and then -- it always felt dry as a bone -- but no one seemed to claim ownership, and although I asked around I couldn't find anyone who knew where it came from or who it belonged to. So, with the encouragement of my Lower School colleagues, I brought it home.

It needs fresh soil and it also has thrips, I think. I gave it a good rinse and left it outside in the garden, hoping that exposure to our chilly spring temperatures, and predators like ladybugs, will knock back the insects naturally. Check back in a few weeks or months!

Incidentally, this is our fifth rubber tree. I have a problem.

Here's what my teasel seedlings, plucked from the seed head, look like now. Two of them died but four are still with me. I'm going to let them get a little bigger and then I'll plant them out. I also have zinnia, cosmos and sunflower seeds that I got free during the past few months with our Gardener's World magazine subscription at work, and I need to plant those at some point.

Yesterday was a very domestic day. I vacuumed the house, cleaned the refrigerator and did my normal weekly houseplant maintenance. After such a busy week it felt good to have a day of restful routines! I even made progress on reading "Flashlight" -- I think I'm about a third of the way through and I'm liking it.